Nearly a year ago, Democrats.com and our allies started asking the Washington Post and other corporate media outlets to include impeachment in their regular polls. After repeatedly and snidely dismissing our requests, the Washington Post FINALLY included questions on impeachment and censure in their latest poll.

Of course they twisted the results in several ways:

1. On the censure question, they framed the question around terrorism - even though there is absolutely no evidence the wiretapping involves terrorism
2. Before moving on to impeachment, they poisoned the poll by suggesting Senator Russ Feingold's Censure Resolution was motivated by politics - a charge that is baseless, and one they never suggest on Bush's policies (like the invasion of Iraq)
3. On the impeachment question, they ignored all reasons for impeachment, and chose the harshest possible wording: asking if Bush should be impeached and removed.

Still, despite the bias of the poll, the results are very strong for censure and even impeachment.

On censure, 45% support is the highest since the ARG poll on 3/15, which was before the White House ginned up its counterattack machine, including radio attack ads against Feingold. That means Americans have heard the White House spin - that it is essential to fighting terrorism - but they are becoming increasingly skeptical.

On impeachment, 33% support for "impeach and remove" is 7% higher than the Newsweek poll in March. It is also 7% higher than the average support for "impeach and remove" for President Clinton in 1998.

Finally, the fact that the Post has finally asked the question is a HUGE victory, and other corporate pollsters will surely follow!

Poll Finds Bush Job Rating at New Low
An Election-Year Blow to the GOP
By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, April 11, 2006; A01

Political reversals at home and continued bad news from Iraq have dragged President Bush's standing with the public to a new low, at the same time that Republican fortunes on Capitol Hill also are deteriorating, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The survey found that 38 percent of the public approve of the job Bush is doing, down three percentage points in the past month and his worst showing in Post-ABC polling since he became president. Sixty percent disapprove of his performance...

Bush's job approval rating has remained below 50 percent for nearly a year. Perhaps more ominous for the president, 47 percent in the latest poll say they "strongly" disapprove of Bush's handling of the presidency -- more than double the 20 percent who strongly approve. It marked the second straight month that the proportion of Americans intensely critical of the president was larger than his overall job approval rating. In comparison, the percentage who strongly disapproved of President Bill Clinton on that measure never exceeded 33 percent in Post-ABC News polls...

The depth of public dissatisfaction with Bush and the highly partisan nature of the criticism are underscored by public attitudes toward efforts by some in Congress to censure him or impeach him for his actions as president.

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders view both scenarios as remote possibilities. Still, more than four in 10 Americans -- 45 percent -- favor censuring or formally reprimanding Bush for authorizing wiretaps of telephone calls and e-mails of terrorism suspects without court permission. Two-thirds of Democrats and half of all independents, but only one in six Republicans, support censuring Bush, the poll found.

Last month, Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) introduced a resolution in the Senate to censure Bush. A majority of Americans, 56 percent, said his move was driven more by politics than by principle.

Calls to impeach Bush are not resonating beyond Democratic partisans. One-third of Americans, including a majority of Democrats (55 percent), favor impeaching Bush and removing him from office. But more than nine in 10 Republicans and two-thirds of independents oppose impeachment.

Washington Post-ABC News poll April 6-9, 2006 among 1,027 randomly selected adults nationwide.

40. As you may know, Bush authorized wiretaps on telephone calls and e-mails of people suspected of involvement with terrorism, without first getting court approval to do so. Democratic Senator Russ Feingold has called for Congress to censure or officially reprimand Bush for doing this. Do you think Congress should or should not censure or officially reprimand Bush for authorizing these wiretaps?

41. Do you think Feingold is calling for censuring Bush mainly (to use the issue for political advantage), or mainly (because he believes it is the right thing to do)?

42. Democratic Congressman John Conyers has called for creation of a committee to look into impeaching Bush and removing him from office. Do you think Congress should or should not impeach Bush and remove him from office?